Maine heat pump company to open 1st Aroostook store

A Maine heating and cooling company will soon open its northernmost location in Aroostook County.

Dave’s World, which has six other locations across southern and central Maine and mainly sells heat pumps, will open on Presque Isle’s Main Street in September.

The new store will be the company’s only site north of its Dover-Foxcroft headquarters. With business growing in northern Maine, locating in Presque Isle will be better for staff, who drive from other locations, and will also provide up to 30 new jobs for the area, said Will Blanchard, the company’s regional manager.

“We’ve been selling them up in The County for several years. We just haven’t had an actual brick and mortar up there,” Blanchard said. “We think that Presque Isle is an area that could definitely use a company like us to come in and provide jobs and service the local community.”

Dave’s has done hundreds of installations in Aroostook, with staff driving three to five hours north, Blanchard said.

The company started out as a family enterprise in Dover-Foxcroft, selling furniture, appliances, and serving as a U.S. Cellular and RadioShack dealer.

In 2013, co-owner Matt Scott discovered heat pumps and convinced his two co-owners to try selling them, Blanchard said. Soon, heat pumps were overwhelming the other facets of the business and the company changed its focus to selling them exclusively.

The company is led by Bob Jankunas as president and general manager, Dan Sharrow as chief financial officer, and Scott as vice president and heat pump manager, according to Dave’s World .

“When people think heat, there’s a lot of history with oil and propane and natural gas where people are hesitant to switch,” he said. “But in the move away from fossil fuels, the heat pump is something that does both air conditioning and heating.”

Gov. Janet Mills’ administration has strongly supported the use of heat pumps with several initiatives, setting a goal to add 275,000 heat pumps statewide through 2027. The state already met an earlier goal from lawmakers of installing 100,000 new heat pumps between 2020 and 2025.

Earlier this week, Mills said Maine could receive up to $72 million in federal funds for more installations. The money is part of a $450 million grant through the Environmental Protection Agency for five Northeast states, also including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Dave’s World has purchased the former National Auto Parts Association parts warehouse located at 621 Main St. Blanchard did not know details of the purchase, but company staff have met with Presque Isle officials and code enforcement to facilitate renovations.

The building will be updated with bigger windows, office space in the back and an overall facelift, Blanchard said.

So far they’ve hired two staff members and are finalizing another two positions, he said. As business grows, he anticipates the staff growing to between 15 and 30 people.

“We have a building and we have employees, and we just need to do some renovations on the building, and then we’ll be set,” he said.

The anticipated opening date is Sept. 3.